Windows 8 Windows System Reserved Files Messed Up?

[DWreck]

Just because I could I decided to use the default Windows Back-Up System but I kept getting an Error. I soon discovered that anyone else with a 100MB System Reserved partition had this Error. I tried many things to expand the partition with no luck. So I just made a new partition and used CMD to move the files over to the new 500MB partition I made. After I just deleted the old one and merged it. I had a start up problem which I fixed with my recovery disc, everything was fine. I wanted to change some startup programs so I used "MSConfig" and when I go to the boot tab there is nothing there. I can't click on anything either, other then that all the other options work. So I'm wondering if I messed something up? If so, is there a way for me to fix this? All and all, my PC still works so I could back up everything and reinstall if needed.

Thank You, for any help.

 

[kemical]

Hi,

that 100MB partition is needed by Windows and has system files stored there particularly to do with system restore, Refresh and the like.
If you don't like seeing this partition then one way around not having it show up is to format the drive using a third party app and then install Windows.

 

[DWreck]

Hi,

that 100MB partition is needed by Windows and has system files stored there particularly to do with system restore, Refresh and the like.
If you don't like seeing this partition then one way around not having it show up is to format the drive using a third party app and then install Windows.

Its not that I don't like seeing this partition. Its that it needs to be bigger than 100MB in order for the Back-Up to be Error Free. I couldn't extend this partition for some reason so I just made my own and used CMD to move the files over to the new partition I made, which is 500MB. I think not all files got moved or its missing something important. Is there a way for me to create a new System Reserved partition with all the files?

 

[usasma]

I have the default 100 mB partition on several of my Win8 systems - and all are doing the Windows Backup without errors. Could you please point us to a link or two where this fix is documented?

 

[DWreck]

I have the default 100 mB partition on several of my Win8 systems - and all are doing the Windows Backup without errors. Could you please point us to a link or two where this fix is documented?

Okay, I did do this research a few days ago. So I will go back in my history and try to get some links to the threads I saw. I will edit my post when I get some. Here is the one I first saw: How to fix Error code 0x81000033 when using Windows 7’s Backup and Restore Though it is for Windows 7, I tried the guide with no luck. A thing I noticed is when I tried GParted (Needed to make the new partition a "Boot" partition otherwise the startup repair won't find an OS) is after the startup repair added the required files in the OS Disk Management it has no label for some reason and allows me to delete it like normal, until I use GParted again and re-mark it as a "Boot" partition. It acts like its supposed to after that, not allowing and modifications to it. But it still has not label for some reason in the OS Disk Management even though in GParted it shows up and in my other 3rd party programs.

Edit: I just realized something going back through the guide I posed the link to. I'm stupid not seeing this before, I think I couldn't resize the System Reserved partition because the Unallocated Space was stuck to the primary (Second) partition, I needed to move it the the other (First) partition first so I could extend it. Then it would have worked fine and this mess could have been avoided. Now I just need to make another stock one and resize it the correct way. Is there a way to do this? I was thinking maybe making a new partition and running the Windows install on it and have it create one that way and just delete the new install after?

 

[Saltgrass]

I soon discovered that anyone else with a 100MB System Reserved partition had this Error. I tried many things to expand the partition with no luck. So I just made a new partition and used CMD to move the files over to the new 500MB partition I made.

Can we assume your install was done over Windows 7, so the original System Partition was left in place. And your install is Legacy, so UEFI is not involved?

If that is the Case, the Windows 8 install should have put its Recovery files in a Recovery folder on the C: Partition so only the Boot files were in the System partition, so it should not be giving you a size error.

The backup process would normally need around 50 MB of free space to make Shadow Copies. Do you remember what percentage of the 100 MB partition was free? If you don't, tell us what percentage of the 500 MB partition is free.. I do not remember if the size requirement I saw was different for a 100 MB partition, but the number came from WBAdmin.exe, not the 10% definition.

How did you create the new partition, and if you used Diskpart, what command was used? Also, how did you combine the partitions if a different utility was used?

My guess is the BCD store may not have been setup correctly.

But some info that might help would be a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management Window, expanded to show the information about the partitions and attached.

Also type the following command in an Administrative Command Prompt window and attach the resulting text file. Copy and paste if you like.

bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\BCDtext.txt

If you are using Powershell, use this command

bcdedit /enum all > $env:userprofile\Desktop\BCDtext.txt

 

[DWreck]

Yes it was a Legacy install. I remember about 70MB being in use, leaving about 30MB free. For the first try I did use Diskpart through CMD. For the new System Reserved Partition I created a new Partition through Disk Management and assigned it a Drive Letter for use with Diskpart only. I used 4 Commands:
1. I moved the files with "bcdboot C:\Windows /s E:" (Note E was the Drive Letter assigned to the New Partition)
2. Then I started Diskpart with "Diskpart".
3. Then I selected the Partition with "Select volume E".
4. Finally I set it to Active with "Active".
After this I removed the Drive Letter and Labeled it "System Reserved". Next I restarted into GParted (A bootable Partition Manager), deleted the old System Reserved Partition, and marked the new one as a "Boot" Partition. Finally I ran the startup repair a few times to see if there were any issues (A total of 3 runs were made, 2 of which had issues.) then started normally.

You will see what I mean about Disk Manager not displaying info correctly in the Screenshots I post. I have done multiple things since my other post so it is 200MB now just because I wanted to see if it was to big, but other then that its the same. I do know as a fact that it isn't an exact copy of my old one because I compared them before I deleted the old one, but I still thought it would work, so this one is smaller and missing a folder that the old one had as well. I do not remember what that folder was though.

I'm sure you are correct about the BCD store not being setup correctly. The reason being because this is what the .txt file you wanted says: "The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The system cannot find the file specified." But this could be because of my most recent attempt, I did it without CMD Commands to see what would happen. I didn't notice a difference, it still worked after the startup repair. So if you would like, I could do it again with the CMD Commands and post the .txt file again?

Here are the Screenshots you wanted:
Link Removed
Link Removed
The first one is the Disk Managment one, the second is with EaseUS Partition Master, which shows the correct info.

 

[Saltgrass]

The attachment shows a clean Windows 8.1 install. It is just for reference in case it might help.

I do notice your System Partition does not show as being NTFS, maybe the partition details will show some differences in yours from mine. Some of the problem might be related to GParted. But the attachment shows System partition as being active, but a boot flag is showing on the C: partition ...? Maybe use GParted to remove the boot flag.

Since you so not show the larger drive, can we assume it does not have an active partition?

 

[DWreck]

The attachment shows a clean Windows 8.1 install. It is just for reference in case it might help.

I do notice your System Partition does not show as being NTFS, maybe the partition details will show some differences in yours from mine. Some of the problem might be related to GParted. But the attachment shows System partition as being active, but a boot flag is showing on the C: partition ...? Maybe use GParted to remove the boot flag.

Since you so not show the larger drive, can we assume it does not have an active partition?

Yes I see that it does not show NTFS for some reason, but it is only in Disk Manager that it doesn't show it. Disk Manager doesn't show anything for some reason, not even how much space is free, it just says 100% free all the time. But my other program does show the correct info. I will check into the Boot Flag issue now and post back when I'm done. If by the larger drive you mean my back-up drive, then no it is not active.

 

[DWreck]

Okay I did everything over again with the CMD Commands, went in to GParted, and I noticed that it didn't say the primary partition was a "Boot" partition. Though, Disk Management says it is like you said, so I made it a "Boot" partition, then removed it. Continued as normal with the startup repair. But now Windows work start.

I get a message that says: "autochk program not found - skipping AUTOCHECK", then "STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error} The session Manager Initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc000003a (0x00000000 0x00000000). The system has been shut down."

Edit: I took a look at my other computer (The one I'm using now) and the Primary partition on this one says "Boot". That being said, should I have left it alone? Maybe removing the "Boot" from my broken one messed it up because I just plugged it into this PC and Disk Management doesn't say "Boot" for that one anymore. I can manage it from this PC though so at least I can still try to fix it.

 

[DWreck]

Due to the lack of replies I decided to go ahead and back up my stuff and reinstall Windows. After that I finally figured out a way to extend the stupid thing to 500 MB, needed the repair disc after though, and all is good now. The back up finially ran with no errors this time, so I assume the bigger sized partition fixed that issue.

Thanks for trying to help everyone. Case closed for now...